Generic PC guys, can I pick your brains please?

Absolutely loving the game so far with my T300 GTE. Because many in the console lounge don't have the years of experience with AC like the PC guys do I was hoping some of you might read this and be able to shed some light on this.

Now I know that the FFB and steering character will change between cars but are the the differences modelled on ones that would be present in the real world?

Just a few examples:

The countach has a very lazy turn in response with a fair size dead zone.
The P1 steering feels very light with not much feel.
The 458 has quite heavy steering with a tiny dead zone and immediate steering response.
The R8 LMS has very detailed road feel and heavy steering whereas the 458 GT2 is very light with very little feel around the centre. Etc etc

Now all of these characteristics could be spot on to real life or a case of some cars are modelled better/worse than others?

What's your thoughts/experiences on car to car FFB/steering feel?

Thanks.

 

The FFB feedback is the result not only of the FFB code, but also of the car´s suspension geometry, in special, the caster angle, so that means that even if you give 2 cars the same "amount" of FFB torque, because their geometries are different, then the steering feel will also be different.

 

To my knowledge, they reflect real life differences pretty closely. Haven't driven the cars IRL to confirm, but this seems to be common consensus. Devs get to drive many of these cars in Vallelunga, for real. Aristotelis who does the physics and Luca who does the sounds are also good drivers on a real track, and they probably know a lot of how these cars handle IRL on limit. Here the physics dev is thrashing a Lamborghini Avendator around Modena:



There is bunch of more on SurrealCar youtube page. Add their real experience of these cars + plus the manufacturer data they have applied, you probably get pretty close. Also don't know any car that is notorious for being "badly" modeled they are pretty consistent quality. Of course they do some small tweaks and corrections now and then, no sim can be 100% to true to life, only reality is that.

 

Well, the F40 was a real beast at the beginning and got better with some updates. Also the KTM was really prone to snap oversteer for a while, but that got fixed at some point.

So there are differences with the development of AC.

But most cars pretty much handle like I'd expect them how they would IRL, though I don't have experience with any of the cars in AC.

But FFB is probably one of the things that can be quite different on PC compared to consoles.
We can use mods, apps and tools to tweak our setups and wheels, like custom LUTs to achieve more linear behaviour of the FFB motors, use clipping apps to see what gain we should use in general and then adjust it for each car individually in-game if necessary.

Plus the points @ShredatorFIN mentioned and then there are also things like different amounts of power steering and how much/little those load up the more you push a car.

 

The FFB would be somewhat related to the real car assuming the geometry etc is correct as the game just gets data from this. You are however limited by steering wheel hardware and the data is still just a simulation even if it tries to be as accurate as it can be there are always limitations. I dont think AC even models power steering as most consumer wheels dont have the torque to go beyond a car with power steering can give, people with direct drive wheels would need to turn down the ffb in order to simulate power assisted steering. So the FFB in AC is using all cars geometry to produce ffb but in terms of cars with power steering this isnt even considered atm and until Direct drive wheels hit the consumer brands like thrustmaster, logitech etc it seems unlikely they will also look into simulating power steering in cars.

 

Great info, thanks guys. I appreciate the PC offers more room for adjustment with mods etc. I was more after the general philosophy towards simulating each car and it's subtle differences. That video is great and shows how Kunos will have a great deal of knowledge on the type of differences I mentioned, slow turn in, light steering etc.

Also, I suppose the feel and feedback force will be different for not only each track but each section of track? I've never been to either but Vallelunga feels pretty smooth in general where as Imola has many bumps and undulations that make the steering sometimes light, sometimes heavy? The ring shows this really well as its constantly changing.

 

This is the reason I feel we need to have a wheel calibration suite on the console version of the game. As there are various wheels being used, with varying degrees of capability, surely it makes sense to be able to set your specific wheel to the best of it's ability ?

 

These vary per track a lot due to laserscanning. Red Bull Ring (coming in Red Pack to consoles) is very smooth, simply because it was resurfaced IRL really recently. So there is less FFB events, although there is some bumpy sections.

 

There is one pretty easy test you can do to get in the ballpark (provided you have ANY gain control whatsoever, on console):

Take a car with no ABS (I use the X-Bow, it has nice ffb and seems fairly linear). Go on track and make some heavy flatspots, so you can clearly feel the "buzz" on th straights. When the FFB isn't clipping you will feel the buzz, even in corners and basically no matter the situation. If the FFB is clipping you won't feel the buzz from the flatspot, but just a constant heavy force. That means you are not getting the "full experience".
Bear in mind that FFB on commercial wheels is always a compromise. Some clipping is expected and inevitable, so don't expect clipping-free Eau Rogue in high downforce cars, for instance. Some liek a heavy feel, others want detail and finesse. We're all different, and the devs have to make a compromise with their default values.

 

I'll give that a try. Only FFB Strength 0-100% is all there is on consoles and I have mine set at 35% because I do prefer the more detailed feedback over outright strength. I have thought on occasion that there may be clipping but most of the time I think its just a really smooth surface/corner and the feedback is pretty much one constant force or the car/tyres feels different. The 458 for example at Silverstone GP last night felt strong but only really had resistance rather than detail whereas the Stingray felt slightly lighter but with more feel for the suspension and tyres mid corner and on turn in. Again, I wouldn't know if this is correct as per the real car but I wouldn't have thought clipping was occurring with the strength at 35% but I'm not sure

 

So you don't have any indication if the wheel is clipping on consoles? I hope they bring that sooon, it's crucial.

 

Not yet no, it would be great to have. To be fair I think the FFB is fantastic and I'm more than happy with it along with also being happy in the knowledge that Kunos will know these cars a lot better than I ever will so the feel of each car is just that, it's the feel of that particular car.

It might be time to leave the FFB settings alone for now. I'm happy with them and I always end up back at the same settings after trying news ones. Maybe I'll start looking at subtle setup changes like pressures and alignment. .